Middle-Earth : Shadow of Mordor

Middle-Earth : Shadow of Mordor Review – The story behind J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings spans way more than what the trilogy of novels suggest. With novels such as The Silmarillion and The Hobbit featuring as lengthy prequels to the story of the Fellowship of The Ring, it may be in your best interests to at least read up on a bit of the lore behind the series before you pick up Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, so that you wouldn’t be too lost when the references to the tale come hitting fast and hard.

Shadow of Mordor’s battle system is highly reminiscent of that of the Batman: Arkham series games, where combos and counter attacks are key in taking down the enemy

Shadow of Mordor tells the tale of Talion, a Ranger of Gondor whose family was murdered, and he himself is sacrificed by the Black Hand of Sauron, in order to revive Celebrimbor, the one who was responsible for forging The One Ring and The Rings of Power. The story revolves around Talion’s quest to take revenge on the Black Hand, as well as to regain Celebrimbor’s memory, which was lost due to him reviving as a wraith. Along the way, Talion will come across iconic characters such as Gollum and Saruman, as they too have their own agendas that revolve around the One Ring and Sauron.

The game’s graphics are pretty good, however, in order for you to truly maximise your gaming experience, you will be required to download a free HD texture patch that can only be properly taken advantage of by a GPU with at least 6GB of VRAM. Gameplay is where Shadow of Mordor truly shines. The fight mechanics are a lot similar to the Batman: Arkham series of games, where grappling and counterattacking moves are key to staying alive.

Talion fights with a sword, a dagger and a bow, and they level up in a similar fashion as you do, as you clear main and sidemissions to gain new abilities and unlock weapon upgrades. The developers of the game also introduced a new system in the game called the Nemesis System. Any time you are killed by an enemy in the game, regardless if they’re a normal or Captainclass Uruk, you will revive back at the previous checkpoint you were from, but the enemy that killed you will have gained infamy, levelling himself up and attaining new abilities. As you progress through the story, Talion will eventually gain an ability called Brand, which will allow you to brainwash the Uruk you’re currently fighting into joining your cause.

This works for Uruks of all levels, however, you will need to damage them enough before you can actually do this. The end goal of Shadow of Mordor is to seek revenge on the Black Hand of Sauron, but the game is so much more than that. The Nemesis System in particular makes the game a very immersive one as the enemies that kill you will remember you, and the dialogue is varied enough that it doesn’t sound repetitive. The Brand ability meanwhile lets you infiltrate the Uruk’s ranks without you having to dirty your own hands, and you can watch how a few well-placed Uruks in the hierarchy can make for some pretty gruesome, yet entertaining backstabbing take place.

Pros

Excellent gameplay,

Nemesis System adds a breath of fresh air to an otherwise cookie-cutter genre